Political associations in the late Byzantine period : the Zealots and sailors of Thessalonica

Abstract

The triumph of the Zealot revolution in Thessalonica between 1342 and
1349 was an actual manifestation of the Byzantine people’s political expression,
which, in theory at least, was incompatible with Byzantium’s monocratic
régime.
This political manifestation, which occurred at a time when the machinery
of state was in a particularly debilitated condition, was achieved through the
activity of two types of collective body: 1. public law unions, which served
the functional needs of the state machinery (such were the Sailors, who were
originally a military body); and 2. political parties, which had existed since
before 1342 as illegal and secret organisations, and embraced all those opposed
to established authority. The Zealots fell into this category, being one
section of a larger, pan-Byzantine movement.